Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-03-11
RUM-DR1NKING.
Tippling in America and Germany
Consul Tanners Report.

CONSUL IAUucE > IltpOIs
United States Consul Tanner, stationed
at Chemnitz, Germany, in a recent report
to the State Department upon Drinking
in the United States and Europe" gives q
number of interesting facts bearing upon
the drink question. The production and
consumption of beer in Germany is some
thing stupendous. The total production
of beer in 1880 was more than 9S5, 600 .OO0
gallons, and in 1885 this had been increased
10 1,l22, 9O2, 1853 %gallons-a quantity suti-
/, Gent to make a lake more than a mile
square and six and a half feet deep! As the
importation is about equal to the exporta-
ton it may be said that this is all consumed
in the empire. Besides this, wines and
liquors are very freely used, the former
more extensively than stronger liquors.
Mr.. Tanner thinks it can be safely esti-
mated that the annual consumption of all
intoxicants in the German Empire will
reach two billion gallons. The hops, bar
lev, rye, potatoes and other ingredients
that enter into the manufacture of this i'm
mense quantity of liquors would be more
! than two billion pounds and would form q
| good listed mountain if placed in n heap.
Beer is the great national beverage, and is
used at least as freely as water; wines are
used BY the wealthier classes at meals, and
are very extensively used, but beer is never
absent from the tables of the rich or poor.
One would suppose from this that drunk
enness must be frightfully prevalent in
tent authority, the reverse is the case. He
declares:
drunkenness is rare, and it rarely man
ifests itself in a boisterous or bel.igerent
manner, but more frequently takes the
shape of song, fun, and a general pleasur-
able feeling Of warmth, energy and self
and hence those horrid crimes
that sometimes shock us in the United
States are rarely heard of here. Then why
should there exist such q difference in the
evils of drinking in Europe and in the Uni
ted States? 1t is manifestly the result OF
the manner of drinking in vogue in the two
hemispheres."
He says that the mode of drinking III
vogue in Germany is "a SCIENCE" when
compared with the blind, irrational, and
suicidal manner of drinking in the United
States. This science consists simply in
the tardiness of drinking. All drinks are
taken sip by sip, half or three-quarters OF
an hour being consumed in drinking a sim
gle glass of beer. This. he remarks, is sc
simple that one is liable to be ridiculed fol
laying stress upon it, and yet on this point
hinges a question of vast importance tc
Americans. By this manner of slow drink.
ing the blood is aroused to greater activity
in SO gradual a manner that there is ne
violent arrangement of the animal econo.
my. The "object of drinking is accom-
plished," and the animal economy has the
chance to enter protest when its capacity
has been reached.
Mr.. Tanner estimates that there are {
thousand habitual, hopelessly habitual
drunkards in the United States to ten il
Germany; and this difference against u.
arises largely, il not entirely, from tn,
manner of drinking in vogue in the two
countries. In consequence of the Low
classes who usually frequent our bar
rooms, these places have a reputation cor
responding to the classes who hang around
them, and when one goes into them he doe
SO by stealth; and to get out as quickly q
possible is one incentive to drinking a.
quickly as possible. To this may be addet
the fact of the much greater consumption
of distilled liquors in the United State
than in Germany, which would alone b,
sufficient to account for the greater in,
temperance in this country.
1t may be interesting to quote the consu.
in what he says of the visiting of saloons
by the better classes in GERMANY, botl
men and women:
Cafes and drinking places in Germany
are places of resort for families. aud gen,
tlemanly department is as much observed
in them as in q ballroom. The heads O
the best families enter them with wives m
children, call for what they want to drink
and order beer or what not for their chill
lraY, aud khavy rSk 1~l ~1rn
hour over their drinks. No swagger O
At many theaters and other public place.
of amusement a gentleman or lady can in
dulge in a glass of beer or wine while til,
performance is in progress, no motto,
whatever being taken Of it, and nothing O
this kind is out of place unless the person
should place the glass to his mouth ant
drain it at one gulp.
Woman unauestionably carries q purify.
ing influence with her wherever she goes
and her presence in the drinking places O
Europe drives from them that class of Low
v%agabonds that hang around American
drinking places. Hence one never sees
drunken man in a cafe, and rarely aver OF
the street. Perhaps no better possible il
lustration of the purifying influences o
woman could be found.
Cafes are open to oil classes, but tn,
lower classes seldom visit them; they woul,
be abashed by doing so as much as the,
would be by entering a parlor where the,
would meet refinement and elegant man
hers. There are some exceptions to thi
rule in the larger cities, but this is con
fined to cafes that are we'll known, an,
ladies avoid them; but there are no drink.
ing places in Germany but what a lad,
may enter with all propriety."
1t will be seen from the above how fa
beyond Germany we have progressed in tn,
solution of the liquor question. There tn,
saloon is recognized as an established in
stitution, to be %patronized by the bette
classes Of society, and by both sexes
Here we have driven it beyond the pale O
responsibility. No decent woman enters
saloon 10 drink. For her to do so would
in most localities, put her beyond the socia
pale. There are many among the NOR,
wealthy in this country who use wine a
table, but the proportion is steadily grow.
ing less. Among the farming community
a class that forms the solid foundation O
our prosperity, the use of liquor has becom,
a rarity within the past half century.
In our cities, too, the saloon has steadil,
been going down hill in popular estima.
ton. There are tens of thousands of mer
who p%atronize them to a greater or less ex.
tent, who look upon them as evils, VIII
despise the men who run them. and VIII
would be glad were they ali wiped out O
existence. They are not the resorts O.